Any experience on McIntosh Amp with B&W Speakers

I have listened to the MA-6900 with the N803, N802, and N801 all with great results, top to bottom. I think the McIntosh is one of the top three amplifiers for the Nautilus line, from Krell, then Plinius, and then McIntosh!

JMHO.....

Dan

I am currently using a 352 Mcintosh Amp with the 803 and I never regret the purchase. I heard that the 6900 is similar to the MC202 + C42. If you have extra few hundred dollars, go with the MC352+C42. They are all discontinued and you can find great deal on Audiogon or Ebay.

Happy Listening :)

Rodney

good synergy especially with hi-end b/w speakers.

Thanks for the suggestions and sharing, it is very helpful.

I live in Beijing, China, the local dealer only have limited model for me to choose. Even worst, those high end HiFi product's pricing is on average 20-30% higher in Beijing, due to import tax and logistic cost. Well, too bad .... anyway, current offer on the table are ....

1) Krell KAV-500L (250wpc, an old model) at US$4,100.00
2) McIntosh MA6500 (120wpc) at US$3,200.00
3) McIntosh MA6900 (200wpc) at US$4,900.00

I brought home a Rotel RC1090/RB1090 pre and power combo from this dealer together with my B&W N803 3 weeks ago. I think the Rotel combo is not a good match to the B&W speakers after listening for a few weeks in my house. The dealer is willing to take back my Rotel gears at the original price (US$2,900.00) for one of the above replacement amp, and I pay the difference.

I am more interested to MA6900 although she is the most expensive one, and I have never own any McIntosh equipment before. But it sounds like this is a good bet.

For MA6500, it seems she just carry the McIntosh brand and look, but not really a classic McIntosh in terms of sound and value, e.g. no Autoformer feature, no XLR input, etc.

For Krell, I was originally interested on KAV-400xi, but the dealer don't have this model. They only have KAV-500L from their old stock, and it seems they are not going to sell Krell in the future. I think that may not be a good idea to use 500L for it is an old model, the dealer is not selling Krell anymore, and it seems the 400xi do have some good improvement over 500L/300L series, more natural and less bright. On top, consider reliability and resell value, maybe McIntosh is a better choice after all.

The dealer will set up both MA6500 and MA6900 for my audition with N803 this Friday. My friends told me both McIntosh and B&W make good products, but their charactoristics are very similar. Both are accurate, warm and sweet, but a bit lay back and "slow". My music is female vocal Jazz, Pops, and a bit of Rock and Classic.

Any additoinal sharing, comment and advice? It will be very useful to me, as a potential new McIntosh owner. Thanks in advance.